BEST IDEASFrom the Awakening from

Alzheimer’s Interviews

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BEST IDEAS from the Awakening from Alzheimer’s Interviews

Published by Online Publishing & Marketing, LLC

IMPORTANT CAUTION:

By reading these interview summaries, you are demonstrating an interest in maintaining good and vigorous health. The interviews suggest ways you can do that but – as with anything in medicine – there are no guarantees. You must consult privately with medical advisors to assess whether the suggestions in these interviews are appropriate for you – or you must accept full responsibility if you decide not to do so.

Neither Peggy Sarlin nor the doctors and other authorities she spoke with in these interviews meant their comments to be personal medical advice for any particular individual. The views expressed herein are those of the doctors and experts who voice them and not necessarily those of Peggy Sarlin or the editors and publishers. Peggy Sarlin is a writer, not a physician, doctor or professional health caregiver and her comments herein are not intended as personal medical advice.

The author, editors and publishers of this volume are not responsible for any adverse effects or results from the use of any of the suggestions, preparations or procedures the report describes.

As with any medical treatment, the results described in this report will vary from one person to another. The author, editors and publishers believe the information in this volume is accurate but they cannot guarantee its accuracy.

© Copyright 2016 by Online Publishing & Marketing, LLC, P.O. Box 1076, Lexington, VA 24450

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Steps You Can Take Right Now to Defeat Alzheimer’s Disease ........... 1

Michael J. Breus, Ph.D. .......................................................................... 4

Jacob Teitelbaum, MD ........................................................................... 9

Mary T. Newport, MD ........................................................................ 13

John “Jay” Faber, MD .......................................................................... 18

Dominic D’Agostino, Ph.D. ................................................................. 22

Vincent Fortanasce, MD ...................................................................... 27

Pamela Wartian Smith, MD ................................................................. 32

Fred Pescatore, MD ............................................................................ 36

David L. Katz, MD ............................................................................... 40

Dale Bredesen, MD ............................................................................. 46

David Perlmutter, MD ......................................................................... 50

~ 1 ~

Pilot Episode

Steps You Can Take Right Now to Defeat Alzheimer’s Disease

There is New Hope for people with Alzheimer’s:

• Dramatic improvements in people with Alzheimer’s disease can be achieved with new lifestyle programs.

• Cognitive decline can be reversed.

• At some clinics, for example: 75% improve in 6 months.

• Early prevention of Alzheimer’s can decrease risk of the disease by 50%

Lifestyle changes can help people with Alzheimer’s disease

• Improve conversational ability

• Improve ability to recognize faces

• Better social interaction.

• Increase longevity and prevent heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes

• Tips and treatments can repair the ordinary memory loss of aging

• Drugs like Aricept or Namenda, do nothing for Alzheimer’s disease, while lifestyle changes can make a huge difference.

Mainstream medical research on Alzheimer’s disease

• In eight studies that cost $84.4 billion, researchers found that the placebo group, the group that was not given pharmaceuticals, did better overall than the drug treatment group.

• Between 2002-2012, there were 244 clinical trialsof pharmaceuticals for Alzheimer’s disease at a cost of billions of dollars. 243 failed outright, and the one that succeeded had a very minimal impact.

~ 2 ~

Reversing dementia: Pharmaceuticals are often the problem

• Often so-called dementia patients don’t have dementia at all. They have something else, something doctors miss, that is easily treatable.

• Many of the elderly take 12, 15, 20 medications, and many of these are not necessary and have often have been associated with marked increases in Alzheimer’s:

• Antihistamines can be linked to dementia.

• Acid blockers: a recent study showed a dramatic increase in Alzheimer’s and dementia in people who have a history of being on chronic acid blockers; these drugs reduce absorption of B12 and magnesium.

• Pharmaceuticals can have a synergistically negative effect on the brain. And doctors often don’t recognize this fact.

Discoveries about Alzheimer’s disease and blood sugar issues

• Alzheimer’s may be Type III diabetes; linked to insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome that can be treated and preventable.

• In Alzheimer’s, the cells in the frontal lobe of the brain are insulin resistant.

• Study in 2014 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that folks with even slight elevations of blood sugar have a dramatically increased risk for becoming an Alzheimer’s patient.

• Report in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shows a profound relationship between diabetes markers and risk for becoming an Alzheimer’s patient

• To lower risk of Alzheimer’s eat a low-glycemic diet to keep insulin from spiking.

Supplements for Alzheimer’s

• Blueness

• Alpha GPC…

• Lion’s mane,

• Pycnogenol,

• Testosterone

~ 3 ~

Better and more sleep can prevent brain problems. (Narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, and in some cases, insomnia can hamper sleep)

• Brain repair and maintenance takes place during sleep.

• Optimal sleep is more than 7 hours a night

• Treat sleep apnea to sleep better and protect the brain.

• Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that better sleep can actually prevent the build-up of brain plaques.

• Don’t nap during the day; it disrupts nightly sleep.

Chronic bladder infections, chronic sinus and candida difficulties can lead to cognitive decline.

• Asymptomatic infections (no signs of the problem) don’t get treated.

• These infections hamper nerve function.

• Chronic nasal drip can be candida infection.

• Lyme disease can cause memory problems.

Coconut oil can help support a better memory.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s

• Memory disappears

• Can’t recognize spouse or children

• Victims endure agitation from feeling lost and without a memory of where they are.

~ 4 ~

Michael J. Breus, Ph.D.Clinical Psychologist;

Fellow, American Academy of Sleep Medicine Los Angeles, CA

Sleep is multi-factorial,and has multiple purposes.

• Sleep goes from awake to Stage 1, then to Stage 2, down into Stages 3 and 4, back to Stage 2, and into REM sleep.

• Sleep involves a very particular movement structure that you go through in your brain – in your brainwaves (measured in EEG).

Different areas that are affected from even just one night of poor sleep.

• Reaction time slows down

• Emotionally you become more over-emotional,

• Cognitive function slows down.

• Amount of missed sleep that impacts the body and brain:

• One hour for one night: not necessarily significant.

• Two hours in a night has important negative effects: you miss a full sleep cycle.

• The need for eight hours of sleep exactly is a myth. You probably need about 7 ½.

Chronically poor sleepers:

• Sleep affects every organ system and every disease state

• Immune function decreases drastically; immune system doesn’t fight disease very well

• Sleep deprivation increases cancer risk.

• Certain sleep stages are necessary for growth hormone to be secreted for body repair

• Sleep is needed for development and growth (in children).

• If you get good Stage 3 / 4 sleep, it’s kind of like going into the body shop and pulling the dents and the scratches out.

~ 5 ~

• During REM sleep, information moves from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. Information gets placed into an organizational structure in your brain so that you can retrieve it in order to make good decisions.

• While you can’t sleep-deprive yourself into a state of Alzheimer’s, genes for cognitive decline can be impacted by sleep deprivation over the course of time.

One sleep cycle:

• Lasts anywhere between 80 and 120 minutes, but on average, 90 minutes.

• The average person has five 90-minute cycles a night: 7½ hours of sleep.

• Sleep cycles change as you age.

The 5 sleep cycles all differ:

• First part of the night: Stage 3 and 4 sleep, which is called “deep sleep,” and that’s the repair-the-body sleep for growth hormone secretion.

• Last third of the night is for REM sleep: that’s when mental restoration occurs.

• If you wake up early or cut off one of the cycles, you might cut off the deep sleep one so that you don’t feel good physically; you might cut off the REM sleep cycle leading to cognitive issues

• Most serious, common problem is in cognition support which takes place in the last part of the night.

• Forgetfulness is usually linked to lack of REM sleep.

• Sleep can be disrupted by sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, and insomnia.

During cognitive decline, the amount of sleep shortens: This may or may not be true insomnia.Much more common: waking up very, very early.

When cognitively impaired people get overly worn out during the day, they’re napping during the day and the phenomenon called “sundowning” can occur:

• People become very, very agitated once the sun goes down; the agitation can lead to institutionalization

• Light therapy can help with sundowning.

• Light therapy uses small, commercially-available boxes.

• Magnesium can calm sundowning along with light therapy

~ 6 ~

To get magnesium from a banana (the peel is rich in magnesium):

• Wash off the banana, and cut off the tips.

• Cut it in half. Leave the peel on and the fruit in it.

• Put it in about two, three cups of boiling water, and boil about 4-5 minutes until banana turns brown.

• Steep the water into a teacup to make a banana tea rich in magnesium. It calms and sedates.

Light Boxes emit a very particular wavelength,around 460 nanometers, blue light wavelength.

• When blue light enters the eye it hits an area of cells called “melanopsin cells.” These send a signal to the brain that say, “Stop producing melatonin.”

• During Alzheimer’s patients, when the sun goes down, melatonin can be produced, but the person’s reaction is agitation. Melatonin is a stimulating factor.

• Light therapy prevents the melatonin uptick until it its secretion is helpful. Gives patients more alertness in the early evening, and then we stop light therapy by about 7:30, 8:30, 9:30.

• Light box is not a panacea for everyone but it is usually beneficial

The hormone melatonin for folks with Alzheimer’s is a paradox; helps some, causes problems in other.

• 95% of melatonin is sold in an over-dosage format, which is a problem.

• Melatonin given to Alzheimer’s patient should be in a very controlled environment

• Dosages for a normal adult dosage is between a half and one milligram – that’s it. But most melatonin products are sold in 3mg, 5mg, 10mg doses. That’s too much. At about age 60, melatonin production starts to decrease in the brain.

• It takes 90 minutes for melatonin to reach plasma (blood) concentration levels for it to actually have an effect on the circadian rhythm.

• Melatonin should be taken 90 minutes before bedtime in the right dose.

• For Alzheimer’s: Consult with a physician about melatonin use.

• Make you have the right dose from a reputable company

• Give it 90 minutes before bedtime

• Make sure that melatonin doesn’t interact with any of the other medications patients are taking.

• Melatonin can interact with beta blockers,

~ 7 ~

Two processes bring on sleep:

• Adenosine: a byproduct of cellular metabolism, builds up in your brain. And that’s what makes you sleepy. (similar structure to caffeine which blocks adenosine receptors to keep you awake.)

• The circadian (daily) rhythm: most people get sleepy or want to go to bed somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00; core body temperature starts to drop. That’s signals your brain to release melatonin, usually around 10:30 every night.

Consistency is best thing for the sleep cycle, especially somebody who’s cognitively impaired.

• Alzheimer’s patients frequently nap a lot, but the nap throws off the circadian rhythm. So they need to be active to keep from napping.

• Activity, light therapy, banana/magnesium tea can all be effective to make sleep better and easier for Alzheimer’s patients.

Morning routine can help sleep:

• Keep Alzheimer’s patients hydrated. You dehydrate at night. Drink water first thing in the morning. Delay coffee consumption; coffee is a diuretic.

• Get direct sunlight: resets that circadian clock.

• Walk outside in the morning for exercise and light.

• Limit caffeinated drinks. Chocolate is OK in moderation.

• Caretakers should also have consistent bedtimes and wake up times to keep sleep cycles consistent. Don’t nap.

Weight gain for seniors increases risk for sleep apnea.

• Apnea – throat collapses and hinders breathing while sleeping. Less oxygen gets to the brain. Stresses the heart; can lead to high blood pressure.

• Signs of apnea: Snoring (often with breathing pauses); agitation during sleep; daytime sleepiness.

To treat apnea:

• CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine: a little air compressor, like a hair dryer. It shoots a thin stream of air through a tube with a little mask that sits on your nose, and when it hits that area it just ever-so-slightly opens it up. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t have any side effects.

~ 8 ~

• Many people with Alzheimer’s resist CPAP: oxygen through a nose clip can help. Specialized mouth guards can help

• Nasal dilators don’t work.

Restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movements.

• Cause can be lack of dopamine; iron deficiency.

Sometimes pharmaceuticals are the best for problems linked to Alzheimer’s. But the more natural the treatment, the better.

• There is a continuing evolution of Alzheimer’s disease in every patient: early, there’s middle, late. The disease changes dramatically throughout that entire processHave to constantly observe and adapt.

Diet for better sleep.

• Avoid alcohol.

• Alzheimer’s patients should not go to bed hungry.

• Turkey does not aid sleep.

• Banana tea, chamomile tea, may help.

• Avoid spicy foods which can disrupt sleep.

• Avoid foods that can cause gastroesophageal reflux,

• Keep bedroom quiet and dark.

• Try a gluten free diet to see if that helps.

• Cut back on sugar to see if it has an effect. But avoid artificial sweeteners.

For Alzheimer’s prevention:

• Get consistent sleep. Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time. Waking up at the same time is even more important than going to bed at the same time.

• Go out every morning and get 15 minutes of sunlight to reset the circadian clock.

• Get enough vitamin D.

• Get checked for sleep apnea.

Dr. Breus’s website is www.thesleepdoctor.com

~ 9 ~

Jacob Teitelbaum, MDDeveloper of MIND Protocol to

Reverse Memory Loss Kona, Hawaii

Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum in Laguna Beach, CA is a board certified internist. He’s a nationally recognized expert in integrative medicine.

Characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease

• A gradual decline in brain function.

• Small decreases in brain function cause major changes in overall function.

• If you can do a tune-up of the brain and improve brain function by 5%, 10%, that can be the difference between not recognizing your kids versus being able to drive. In brain problems, the last few percent make all the difference.

• Many people thought to have Alzheimer’s – at least 30 to 50% – don’t actually have Alzheimer’s. They have another problem compromising brain function.

The MIND Protocol to help with Alzheimer’s

• M: means to optimize metabolism: improve hormonal function, boost insulin sensitivity etc

• I: Deal with infections. Clear up chronic infections.

• N: nutritional support

• D: Drugs that can compromise brain function..

• Dr. Teitelbaum has a study underway now that can be done by phone from anywhere in the U.S. where if a person has a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s from a neurologist, they can be in the study. Free treatment – metabolic tune up is part of the study.

Problems in Alzheimer’s

• Studies show that if people have hormonal problems with thyroid, for example, they’re anywhere from 200-800% more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s.

~ 10 ~

• A lot of people are under-treated for thyroid problems, because a blood test shows normal levels that are too low for good health.

• If you feel tired, achy, have weight gain, cold intolerace, constipation, unexplained infertility and miscarriages when they were younger – you should have a trial of thyroid hormone, especially if the free T4 thyroid test is in the lower 10 percentile, or the TSH test is over 2.5, even though most doctors say a patients TSH is fine unless it’s over 5: many experts disagree.

• Hormones in general should tested. Studies show that if the testosterone is on the low end of normal, or low, you’re more likely to develop Alzheimer’s and dementia.

• Folic acid deficiency can also contribute to Alzheimer’s risk

Holistic doctors are better at treating Alzheimer’s

• The website www.abihm.org .lists 2,000 board certified holistic doctors.

• The website www.naturopathic.org lists find thousands of well-trained naturopaths.

Infections and Alzheimer’s

• Chronic bladder infections, chronic sinus and candida problems can cause cognitive difficulties

• You can have no obvious symptoms of an infection but the problem still impacts the brain.

• Best way to offset chronic bladder infection: using the estrogen cream topically and vaginally in women. After about three months, that decreases the frequency of the bladder infections.

• A simple supplement called “mannose” will prevent most bladder infections.

• For urinary urgency, if you tend to have incontinence, the herb angelica helps, Dr. Teitelbaum uses a product called SagaPro.

• Candida can show up as irritable bowel syndrome and sinus problems – a yeast infection that can cause secondary bacterial infections.

• If you find that you have chronic post nasal drip clearing your throat all the time – that’s a sign of candida. Intestinal gas with diarrhea, constipation, can also be a sign. if the gas has a sulfur smell then you may have a bacterial infection

• Bacterial treatment entails an antibiotic called [DRI-FAX-IN], or [ZY-FAX-IN] or [I-FAX-I-MIN] or Neomycin

• Candida requires Diflucan, and either Boswellia or an [I] statin.

~ 11 ~

Nutritional support.

• In Alzheimer’s, the cells in the frontal lobe of the brain are insulin resistant. It’s actually called “Type III diabetes.”

• Brain cells are starving, because even though the sugar is high in the blood, it can’t get into the cells to be burned for fuel, and sugar is the only fuel that the brain can use, except for ketones.

• Using coconut oil makes ketones, fasting makes ketones but the person has to be taking enough to get to the point where you can smell that ketone on their breath. And ketones should show up in a urine test.

• Studies show that folic acid deficiency is a major player at increasing Alzheimer’s risk.

• Vitamin B12may be low and the blood test range considered normal is ludicrous. B Vitamins, thiamine: A host of the other B vitamins are also critical.

• A powder called “the Energy Revitalization System” vitamin powder can optimize nutrition, and will have all of these B Vitamins, magnesium, antioxidants. You can get it at any health food store or at www.endfatigue.com

• The RDAs for nutrients are not adequate. For instance, it’s hard for the B12 to get into the brain. And also, if the blood level for B12 is over 220, a mainstream doctor will say it’s fine but it is not.

• Without enough B12, or enough folic acid that leads to elevated homocysteine, which is a brain toxin. If the homocysteine level is even over 7, then it’s especially important to hit the high doses of the B12 and the folic acid to bring it down.

Dr. Teitelbaums’s over the phone study

• Only for people not institutionalized.

• Only for people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or other type of dementia

• Starts with a three-hour analysis.

• Involves blood tests.

• Study is for three months.

Curcumin for the brain

• Curcumin from the Indian spice turmeric supports better brain health

• In India, they have a 70% lower rate of Alzheimer’s than we see in the United States – traced back to the curcumin in the diet.

• A major brain protector, whether you’re looking at Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s: a host of neurologic disorders.

~ 12 ~

• Unless you want to have to take 500 tablets a day, you have to get a brand of curcumin that has a very high absorption. A type called Curamed is better, more easily absorbed, 750 mg.

• Curcumin can play a really big role in helping people overall to stabilize function, and maybe even improve brain function.

• Curcumin balances several different parts of the immune system.

Methylene blue

• Methylene blue makes the body’s energy furnaces, or mitochondria, work better. It can help brain function.

• Drug companies aren’t interested in methylene blue: not patentable; and it’s hard to test it against a placebo control, because it makes you pee blue.

• Has to be obtained from a compounding pharmacy. Need a prescription from a holistic doctor.

• Don’t get it from a pet store – may have cyanide in it.

• But if you have incontinence, you’re going to see blue all over the clothes because it turns the urine blue (Use SagaPro, angelica to curb the incontinence)

D is for drugs.

• Many of the elderly taking 12, 15, 20 medications, and many of these are no longer needed. Doctors keep piling on the prescriptions

• Many medications have been associated with marked increases in Alzheimer’s: antihistamines, drugs for urine incontinence.

• Acid blockers – a recent study showed a dramatic increase in Alzheimer’s and dementia in people who have a history of being on chronic acid blockers, probably because these drugs reduce absorption of B12 and magnesium.

Testing for Alzheimer’s

• Research showing that people with Alzheimer’s have trouble smelling out of their left nostril.

• A simple test consists of taking peanut butter, and see at what point you can smell it. Hold the peanut butter 12 inches from your nose, and slowly move it closer. Most people can smell it at eight inches. Then, go with the other side, the right nostril, and see where you first notice the smell. In people with Alzheimer’s, on the left, it’s usually half the distance, so four inches, usually, is where they start to smell it instead of eight inches (as they do on the right side).

~ 13 ~

Mary T. Newport, MDAuthor, Alzheimer’s Disease:

What If There Was a Cure?: The Story of Ketones and The Coconut Oil and Low Carb Solution for

Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Other Diseases Spring Hill, FL

Consuming coconut oil improved the cognitive state of Dr. Newport’s husband who had Alzheimer’s diseases. After she wrote about his improvement:

• She heard from more than 400 people

• 90% had seen improvement in family members with Alzheimer’s by offering them coconul oil.

• At least 40 people with Parkinson’s reported improvement,

• Three or four percent say that they’ve seen stabilization in Alzheimer’s disease over six months or longer.

• Improvements included better memory and cognition; alertness, better social interactions, mood and behavior. during that period of time.

• Some people resumed activities and hobbies

• Physical symptoms improved: less tremors, less stiffness, better walking gait, better reading,

• Personality and sense of humor returned in many people.

Mainstream doctors have resisted acknowledging that coconut oil can help with Alzheimer’s disease

• Doctors get little nutrition education in medical school.

• They don’t understand how food impacts disease.

• They want to see clinical trials. They’re trained to think: “What do the clinical trials show with this particular medication?”

• Studies of MCT oil benefits, which is extracted from coconut oil, are not widely publicized: Half the people who take MCT oil with Alzheimer’s will see improvement in their memory and cognition.

~ 14 ~

Dr. Newport’s husband Steve was 51 when his memory problems started.

• At that time Dr. Newport investigated how nutrition could affect Alzheimer’s.

• Along with memory problems, Steve couldn’t drive, work a calculator or use a computer anymore. He couldn’t finish sentences.

• He suffered from depression linked to his Alzheimer’s.

• He tested so low on mental tests he couldn’t get into clinical trials.

To help Steve, Dr. Newport had him:

• Start eating a whole food diet, a Mediterranean type of diet,

• Taking DHA, one of the Omega-3 fatty acids, 900 mg a day

• Steve only started to improve with coconut oil and MCT oil – medium chain triglyceride oil derived from coconut oil, a nutrient added to infant formula

• Alzheimer’s involves the brain having difficulty getting getting glucose into certain parts of the brain

• Normally, the brain runs primarily on glucose

• The high carb diet eaten by Americans encourages the brain to develop insulin deficiency and insulin resistance – Type III diabetes.

• Insulin stops helping brain cells take in glucose for fuel. As a result, brain cells can die.

• In the early 1800s, Americans averaged six pounds of added sugar in their diet. Today we each eat 130 pounds a year

When the brain cells have trouble using glucose as fuel, they can use fat.

• Fat is converted in the liver to fatty acids that the heart and other muscles can use as fuel instead of glucose.

• But most fatty acids don’t cross the blood-brain barrier.

• Liver can convert some of the fat to ketone bodies; ketones are very small molecules that can enter the brain.

• Ketones don’t require insulin to get into cells, and they enter the same pathway in the cell that glucose does to make ATP, the final energy molecule that that brain cells use to carry out their functions.

• Coconut oil allows your liver to make ketones.

• Medium chain triglyceride oils also are converted in your liver to ketones and provide alternative fuel to brain cells.

~ 15 ~

• For an Alzheimer’s brain or a dementia brain that is not processing glucose well, coconut oil and MCT oil help the body produce an alternative form of brain fuel.

• A high fat diet – of fats like coconut oil, is a health diet. The low-fat diet is actually based on flawed science.

• Coconut oil is a saturated fat, but it’s a good saturated fat.

Steve’s progress on coconut oil:

• At first he gained weight.

• When he eliminated other fats in the diet, and eliminated carbohydrates he lost all the weight.

• His memory improved (on a mental) test after just one dose of coconut oil (35 grams, a little more than 2 tablespoons). Two weeks of the oil made more improvement

• Steve said taking the oil was like having a light bulb go on in his head.

• His jaw tremor stopped.

• His attention to detail returned in about two months.

• Steve and Dr. Newport were encouraged by Dr. Richard Veech expert on ketones who has a hypothesis that ketones can improve people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and ALS, and multiple sclerosis,

Dr. Newport believes organic, unrefined, virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil is ideal (for nutrient content) for Alzheimer’s patients, but any coconut oil will contain medium chain triglycerides.

• You can cook with unrefined coconut oil at 350 degrees or less.

• Coconut oil melts at about 76°.

• It is very stable – keeps for two years at room temperature

MCT oil vs. Coconut oil

• With the coconut oil the levels of ketones increase slowly, and peak at about three hours. But then they are still there, six, seven hours later.

• With MCT oil, you get a higher level of ketones, quite a bit higher than you do with coconut oil. It peaks around 90 minutes – and is gone after three hours. No measurable ketones after three hours.

• You can cook with MCT oil, but at a much lower temperature. It smokes at 320°.

• You can use MCT oil in salad dressings,

~ 16 ~

• Dr. Newport believes other nutrients in coconut oil that are not in MCT oil may help the brain.

• Dr. Newport often mixes equal parts coconut oil with MCT oil.

• Coconut milk can be put into smoothies. She also uses flaked and grated coconut in cooking.

• When first consuming coconut oil or MCT oil, start with a small amount (½ a teaspoon or a teaspoon) Initially they may cause diarrhea, indigestion and sometimes vomiting. Increase gradually up to six or more tablespoons daily for neurodegenerative disease. (Steve took up to 11 tablespoons a day.)

• MCT oil is thermogenic. It increases your body temperature and can be used for weight loss and burning more calories more quickly; also used by body builders to help increase lean body mass.

• Mitochondria in the cells in the muscle use MCT oil directly and convert it to ATP: cellular fuel. by Dr. Mary Newport.

• Powdered MCT is available that can be added to coffee.

• Any mammal milk or milk product, if it’s full fat, will have some MCT in it.

• Goat’s milk has more MCT than cow’s milk.

• 10-17% of the fats in human breast milk are medium chain triglycerides.

• Some people report improvement sometimes in their cholesterol levels with coconut oil. Coconut oil, when it raises the cholesterol, it tends to raise the HDL, which is considered the good cholesterol, more than LDL.

Steve’s mother in her 80s was thought to have Alzheimer’s but improved on coconut oil

• She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; took medications

• After improvements on coconut oil, her doctors actually decided she did not have Alzheimer’s disease and took her off of her medications.

Mainstream doctors offer Alzheimer’s patients Axona, a medical “food”

• A prescription is $90-$100 a month. It’s one dose a day .People would need three or four doses a day to keep the ketones going around the clock, but one dose a day is what was FDA approved.

• A study of 55 people who had been on Axona for 18 months: 80% of them had a sustained improvement over that time on one dose a day.

~ 17 ~

Other uses for coconut oil and MCT oil

• For Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS; sometimes it is massaged into the muscles.

• Coconut oil can be used topically on the skin.

• Moisturizer or hair treatment.

• Possibly helpful for autism.

• It’s used in childhood epilepsy to help with a ketogenic diet,

Reasons not to use coconut oil or MCT oil:

• People with liver problems may not be able to metabolize the medium chain triglycerides, and fat in general

• Allergies.

• Anybody with major health problems should discuss it with their physician, and try to get them on board with the tretment. And they can monitor their lipid panel.

• Severe heart disease

Diet recommendations

• During the Atkins Diet, or South Beach Diet you go into ketosis

• Newport suggests people go to a whole food diet, and just try to eliminate the added sugar in the diet, less than 60 grams of carbs a day or less, to support ketosis.

• With reduced carbohydrates you achieve a little bit more ketosis, and then by using the MCT oil and the coconut oil in the diet, you will further increase the level of ketones.

• Stay way from junk food. A sugary muffin, for instance, can have 60 grams of carbohydrates

• Avoid foods like Ensure and Boost – a lot of elderly people take some of those as supplements; they have 40 grams of carbohydrate in a serving.

• Don’t be overly concerned about cholesterol. In elderly people, it’s been shown the higher your cholesterol level, the better your life expectancy.

~ 18 ~

John “Jay” Faber, MDClinical Psychiatrist, Amen Clinic

Los Angeles, CA

The Amen Clinic

• Uses SPECT Scans to chart blood flow through the brain

• Typical MRI or a CAT scan looks at at the structure of neurons,

• SPECT scan looks at blood flow, a function of how the brain is performing.

• Dr. Amen, has been doing SPECT scans for 25 years: over 100,000 scans, data that supports and “backs up” the clinic’s recommendations.

The anatomy of the brain:

• Outside area of the brain: The cortex which affects the overall ability to think, focus, memorize – executive function.

• Inside the brain: different areas that have a lot to do with emotions and feelings which also can influence the way we think, focus and memorize

Generally Three types of dementia:

• Frontal temporal lobe dementia: when the front third of the brain (frontal and temporal lobes), doesn’t function well.

• Alzheimer’s disease, or in a younger person, pre-Alzheimer’s disease: decreased blood flow in the middle third of the cortex:

• Lewy Body Dementia: Decreased blood flow in the back third of the brain, particularly the occipital cortex and part of the parietal lobe, associated with and often linked to Parkinson’s disease.

• Parts of the brain linked most often linked to memory problems: temporal lobes, hippocampus.

~ 19 ~

Supplements offer holistic aid for the memory, fewer side effects than drugs.

• Statins cut the body’s production of cholesterol, but the brain is made of cholesterol so statins can lead to brain issues.

• Cholesterol issues are better dealt with by using red yeast rice, berberine and policosanol.

Neurons in the brain can function less well because of:

• Restricted blood flow and resulting lack of oxygen and nutrients.

• Inflammation.

Supplements to help keep the middle third of the brain functioning during Alzheimer’s:

• Ginkgo biloba: has been the subject of some controversy, but we know that it does increase the diameter of blood vessels to get more blood flow to the brain.

• N-acetyl cysteine (NAC): helps create the antioxidant called glutathione which decreases inflammation.

• Coenzyme Q10: helps oxygen get to mitochondria. Mitochondria are the energy packs in cells

• Vitamin E: anti-inflammatory; can help decrease inflammation.

• Vitamin D: Decreases inflammation. Most people are low on Vitamin D.

• Acetyl-L-carnitine: helps sugar and fat go from cells into mitochondria to help produce cellular energy.

• Alpha-lipoic acid: an antioxidant; helps get glucose and medium-chain fatty acids, another form of healthy fats, from our blood into the brain to improve function.

Supplements for temporal lobe problems:

• Vinpocetine and huperzine A

• Taurine can help calm down temporal lobes and lessen irritability or intense anger.

Anxiety and Alzheimer’s:

Higher instance of Alzheimer’s disease occurs in people who suffer depression and anxiety. Anxiety and nervousness can impair ability to focus and remember things.

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• Basal ganglia: area inside the brain deals with stress, anxiety, tension and anger which can all interfere with memory.

• GABA is non-toxic and non-addictive and can help reduce anxiety. (Ativan and Xanax are drugs that can help anxiety but they are addictive and toxic, decreasing blood flow to neurons.)

• Thalamus: in the center of the brain, about the size of a walnut there. All of sensations – sight, hearing, sound, all of our movements – all go through the thalamus. It is a sensory filter. If it is overly active, it can lead to depression, apathy, low energy, negative thoughts and feelings.

• Calming the thalamus down may help neurons survive longer

• SAMe. helps as a methyl donor, and helps create norepinephrine and epinephrine, which helps calm the thalamus.

Anterior cingulate: area of the brain a couple of inches behind the nose. If that gets overly active, people tend to obsess more. Leads to memory problems. Supplements that help:

• 5-Hydroxytryptophan, the precursor molecule to serotonin.

• Inositol,

• The spice saffron.

• St. John’s wort.

Pre-Alzheimer’s disease: memory still seems OK but SPECT imaging shows middle third of your brain has decreased profusion – decreased blood flow. Which means stressed neurons, less oxygen more inflammation

Lifestyle interventions: Exercise increases blood flow to the entire brain. (pg 14) six days a week, 45 to 60 minutes per day

• To encourage yourself to exercise, you can commit to a mere 5 minutes and promise yourself that you can quit then if you still don’t want to exercise.

Better diet: Eat better by constructively rebelling against the usual processed foods:

• High protein is better for the brain: Protein increases dopamine, a neural hormone that acts helps fuel the cortex,

~ 21 ~

• Avoid sugar and simple carbohydrates in cakes, cookies, junk food

• A Mediterranean-style diet supports brain health.

• Improve the probiotic bacteria in the gut. Keeps tighter junctions in digestive tract to lower inflammation in body and brain.

• Avoid diabetes; the condition lowers sugar availability to brain cells for fuel. Diabetes lis inked to the amyloid beta plaque of Alzheimer’s (lose weight, low carb diet.)

A healthier lifestyle cuts Alzheimer’s risk by 50%

• Multivitamins

• Omega-3 supplements: help decrease cytokines, inflammatory molecules created by neurons when they are stressed.

• Vitamin D; have your vitamin D status checked and take a supplement if you need one.

• Brain and Memory Power Boost: a supplement available from the Amen clinic; contains acetylcysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, vinpocetine, huperzine A, ginkgo biloba, alpha lipoic acid, phosphatidylserine.

• Stay mentally stimulated: brain produces more brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which helps axons grow and develop. Help keeps neural plasticity (stem cells regenerate neurons).

75% of visitors to the Amen center improve in 6 months. People who stay at the clinic: 85%.

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Dominic D’Agostino, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmacology

and Physiology University of South Florida, Tampa FL

With

Dr. Angela Poff, Ph.D., Research Associate

at the University of South Florida

Characteristics of the brain’s energy use:

• 20 to 25% of the energy that the body makes is consumed by the brain, even though the brain only occupies maybe about 3% of total weight

• Brain has the metabolic flexibility to adapt from using glucose to using ketone bodies for energy

• When you fast, and especially avoid carbohydrate-based food, you liberate fat for cellular energy

• Over the course of a week, a fast can lead to a slow conversion of using glucose to generate energy to using ketone bodies – that is, fats – for energy.

• By the end of one week, during fasting, 60 to 70% of our energy is primarily being derived from ketones

As we age, the brain’s capacity to use glucose for fuel declines,

• During Alzheimer’s the amyloid plaques forming in the brain impair glucose energy metabolism

• Burning sugar for energy actually may cause the brain to accumulate toxic protein plaques – amyloid beta

• Ketone bodies derived from fats represent an alternative energy substrate that can help to restore brain energy metabolism in the face of impaired glucose utilization.

• Our capacity to use ketones does not decrease with age. Actually, it can increase

• Ketones can rapidly transport across into the brain and be used as an energy source; fat-derived ketones represent a preferred fuel in the aging phenotype

~ 23 ~

Aging and the body’s use of ketones for fuel:

• A youthful brain utilizes ketones if they’re present, but studies have shown that in young individuals the use of glucose compared to the use of alternative fuel such as ketones is very, very high

• In an aged brain, and especially someone with dementia, the use of glucose is dramatically decreased compared to the use of alternative cellular fuel

• We are born in ketosis. Babies are basically ketone metabolizers – breast milk has a type of fat, called medium chain triglycerides or MCTs, that converts to ketones. Babies are generally in a state of mild ketosis.

The Ketone Diet

• Original ketogenic diet was developed in the 1920s at Mayo Clinic, and later implemented by Johns Hopkins University and many clinics across the United States, and across the world.

• We have ketone supplements that can be consumed orally that elevate blood levels of ketones into ranges that have been shown to be therapeutic

• Ketogenic diet needs to be implemented by a trained dietitian under the care of a medical doctor, and it’s a lifestyle change [hat requires major and difficult changes in the way a person eats; the best approach is to use a modified version of a low carb, ketogenic diet with supplementation

• Nutritional ketosis is very distinctly different than diabetic ketoacidosis, which is a very specific pathology associated with the absence of insulin, or Type I diabetes (most doctors are only familiar with ketoacidosis not ketosis)

• Humans couldn’t survive famine, we couldn’t survive starvation without getting into a state of fasting ketosis.

• To work with a doctor on a ketogenic diet: Tell your doctor to do a Google search on ketogenic diet, go to PubMed, if he wants to see peer-reviewed studies on the diet, and encourage him to go to the Charley Foundation, which is a foundation with 200 clinics around the world that help people implement the ketogenic diet. They’re associated with Johns Hopkins University with some heavyweight neurologists backing it up.

• The best guide to the ketogenic diet: Ketogenic Diets: Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders by Johns Hopkins’ Eric Kossoff and John Freeman

• If you are savvy about your diet and can count grams of protein, grams of fat and grams of carbohydrate, you may be able to implement the ketogenic diet yourself after a short consultation with a nutritionist; the diet changes your physiology

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Ketone supplements can help ease the transition into nutritional ketosis:

• Coconut oil has a type of fat that converts over to ketones much more readily. Within coconut oil there’s a particular kind of fat called a medium chain triglyceride (MCT); you can buy a more concentrated form as MCT oil at health food stores.

• Coconut oil is available as a powder

• Johns Hopkins implements a modified Atkins Diet, or modified Ketogenic Diet, where they incorporate medium chain triglycerides or MCTs into ketogenic diet meals. That has helped with epilepsy, and it would help with other disorders, or even weight loss.

• We developed molecules that are essentially naturally-derived ketone bodies that are salts. So we can take a ketone molecule and combine it with sodium, or potassium, or magnesium, or calcium.

• These salts have the interesting property of elevating ketones a little bit higher than the MCT and higher than the coconut oil, and these have been commercialized and are on the market now.

Cancer and ketones

• Research going on in ketogenic diet and ketone supplementation and cancer has really exploded.

• Cancer cells really take in a lot of glucose, way more than healthy cells.

• The brain in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease has a decreased ability to use glucose, cancer cells are remarkably reliant on getting in a lot of their energy as sugar.

• Cancers can use a wide variety of the energy or the molecules in our body, but they do seem to have a pretty strong reliance on glucose specifically cancer cells; they don’t seem to be very efficient at utilizing ketones for energy.

• Ketosis can metabolically stress cancer.

• Ketones themselves seem to have direct anti-cancer effects.

• Glioblastomas (brain cancer) ketones may help shrink tumors

• Dr. Fred Hatfield: had prostate cancer in his bones used periodic fasting, and then transitioned into a ketogenic diet that included eggs and sardines, olive oil, coconut oil – and he rapidly recovered; he’s the President of ISSA.

• Mainstream medical oncology really ignores the potential of dietary interventions to metabolically manage cancer. But the ketogenic diet can – even when a cancer is not very reactive, or not very responsive to it – at the very least it slows down cancer’s growth

• Cancer cells have damaged mitochondria, damaged energy systems that don’t allow them to derive energy from ketone molecules.

~ 25 ~

• Research by Brent Reynolds: sensitize the cancer cells to various standard of care drugs that are already out there by putting the cells, or putting the animals on a ketogenic diet

Low-carb diet helps the brain:

• About 30% of people with Alzheimer’s have an Alzheimer’s pathology that’s very responsive to a metabolic therapy.

• www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com probably the best resource for more information.

• Most people eat too many sugars, too many processed carbohydrates. Need to decrease the amount of consumed carbohydrates to under 100 grams per day, and then work towards reducing that further, possibly to 50 grams or less per day, and incorporating, in place of the carbohydrates, healthy fats.

• Healthy fats include coconut oil, medium chain triglyceride fats derived from coconut oil and palm oil.

• Monounsaturated fats work well; nuts are an excellent source.

• Good fats include: avocado, olive oil, even butter – saturated fat is beneficial – and coconut oil is a saturated fat.

• Eat healthy, sustainable types of fish; wild-caught.

• Reduce inflammation with – reduced sugar intake, elevated ketones, and consuming omega-3 fatty acids ; carbohydrate tolerance declines pretty aggressively after about age 30, to 40,

For healthier aging:

• Exercise. As we build muscle, muscle is very hungry for glucose and helps us keep our glucose in check. But generally speaking, the tolerance for a certain level of carbohydrates still decreases as we age.

• Transition to a low carb diet and incorporate coconut oil, or MCT, or the ketone supplements as you age.

• Ketogenic or low carb diet lowers blood pressure; reduces heart rate, lowers blood glucose, drops C-reactive protein (sign of inflammation

Unique Ketogenic therapies:

• Combine ketogenic diet with hyperbaric oxygen to treat cancer: oxygen discourages cancer growth.

~ 26 ~

• Hyperbaric oxygen allows more oxygen to get into tumors and essentially offset tumor-promoting effects of the hypoxia, or the low oxygen. Combined with the ketogenic diet, we actually see a very potent synergism between the two therapies; oxygen may also stimulate areas of the brain that otherwise wouldn’t be stimulated, and this could have cognitive enhancement effects.

• The Deanna Protocol for ALS: Using alpha ketoglutarate, which can be bought at a health food store, is kind of like a ketone body. It’s an energy substrate that’s similar to ketones, medium chain triglycerides.The supplement GABA, and Coenzyme Q10 (But you should seek out and consult with a registered dietician or nutritionist that is knowledgeable about low carb ketogenic diets.

Cautions to follow on the ketogenic diet:

• Get blood tests to analyze kidney function, liver function, your liver enzymes, and look triglycerides. If your triglycerides are elevated, that means your body is not adapting well to a high fat ketogenic diet; may mean you need a slower transition to the diet.

• Supplement with magnesium, and potassium in the form of potassium citrate; one one side effect of the diet that has been shown (at least in kids) is kidney stones.

• Drink more water);

• Take magnesium for cramps (diet may increase cramping).

~ 27 ~

Vincent Fortanasce, MDClinical Professor of Neurology

University of Southern California and Author of The Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription: The Science-Proven

Prevention Plan

Dr. Vincent Fortanasce is board certified neurologist. He’s the author of The Anti- Alzheimer’s Prescription.

Fontanasce’s basic thesis: We develop memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI, the precursor to Alzheimer’s disease because of the sad lifestyle: sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.

Diet leads to Alzheimer’s:

• Too many trans fats

• Too much high fructose corn syrup:americans consumed 6,000 tons back in 1980 to 9,600,000 tons today

• Average child ingests over 780 calories a day more today compared to 1980

• Obesity rate for children has gone from 6% to 32%.

• Obesity is one of the major factors for Alzheimer’s disease and insulin peaking.

Pathology of Alzheimer’s.

• Over the last eight years we’ve spent $84.4 billion on investigating drugs to reverse Alzheimer’s disease but they do no good.

• In one study, the placebo group, the group that was not given the drug treatment, did better overall than the treatment group.

We should be funding the DEAR Program: preventing Alzheimer’s with

• Diet

• Exercise

~ 28 ~

• Accentuating the brain’s reserve – or in other words, neurobics, or exercise for the brain.

• Rest and recovery: sleep, and reduced stress.

The TEAM Program: treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment that often precedes Alzheimer’s. It involves working with caretakers.

• Incorporates lifestyle changes with the DEAR Program.

• The TEAM Program is a neurocognitive program that treats the very pathological basis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Definition of dementia and Alzheimer’s

• Dementia is from two Latin words, de mentis – “out of one’s mind.”

• Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia, the most common, about 70% of all dementias.

• Synapses are the areas between the tentacles that come out.of neurons. We are born with100 trillion of these synapses. By the time we’re eight years old the brain grows 1,000 trillion.

• After about eight to twelve years of age, there is a pruning down to 500 trillion synapses

• This pruned network gives us our intelligence and special areas of interest. If you are oriented to music, you have more synapses devoted to music, for example.

• Children are born with one-tenth of their brain, the other part develops in childhood. And Alzheimer’s begins in childhood.

Lifestyle factors influencing Alzheimer’s disease.

• Overeating,

• Not exercising

• Eating nutrient-poor foods with things like high fructose corn syrup.

• Lack of sleep (less than 6 hours nightly)

TEAM Program based on a neurophysiological knowledge of the degeneration of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. The first degeneration that occurs in the brain for Alzheimer’s begins in the hippocampus: the brain’s memory center.

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Your brain is a triad brain

• Brain stem, which is called the “reptilian brain. the automatic reflexes.

• Mammalian brain,” and that is this area called the “limbic system.” deals with emotions. Hippocampus is part of the limbic system: the mind’s eye.

• Rest of the brain is what we call the hominid brain: the reflective part that lets us do math and do analytical activities as well as language.

First signs of Alzheimer’s disease begin in the hippocampus: short term memory problems Plus, you experience depression and loss of emotions.The information that’s stored in the hippocampus is supposed to be bought into the rest of the hominid brain during the evening.

• Two types of memories: declarative and non-declaratory memory

• Declarative memory consists of the facts.

• The non-declarative memory has to do with your emotions includes frightening events.

• Agility of the brain is the ability to do things quickly- decreases with age.

• Capacity means you know more and organize it better: wisdom. That increases with age.

• Multitasking ability decreases with age.

TEAM Program centers upon stimulation of the hippocampus.

• When hippocampus is injured it can’t feed info to the rest of the brain.

• Doing Sudoku or crossword puzzles won’t help the brain much.

• Doing a novel activity can help: doing a task with the opposite hand than usually used can stimulate the brain.

• Activities that are emotionally involving also increase brain stimulation.

Major problem that occurs with Alzheimer’s disease originates in the hippocampus in the limbic system,

• The limbic system has the olfactory center, and is the smell and taste and emotional center.

• The DEAR program constantly stimulates the limbic system, and produces improvements in the cognitively impaired – without medication.

• One of the best ways to stimulate the entire limbic system and the hominid brain is with emotional memories – honeymoon memories, vacation memories, memories of special moments. .

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• The DEAR schedule starts with eight weeks of .the “TEAM Program – Treatment of Early Alzheimer’s and Mild Cognitive Impairment. The TEAM program involves the caretaker.

Other aspects of the program:

Isometric exercise:

• Anaerobic type of exercise that helps stimulate production of growth hormone. (You lose much of the production of this hormone after age 50). These are static muscle contractions For instance, pushing each hand against the other, pushing against a wall.

• When muscles feel like they are burning during isometric exercises, they’re giving off enzymes called “IGF-1” and “TGF-1.” IGF-1 goes immediately, within 18 seconds, to the brain. It turns on at least three genes that cause regeneration of the cells in the hippocampus

• Exercises can help with deep wave sleep which is approximately 24% of our entire sleep at night, and it turns on growth hormone. At 50 years of age, women’s deep wave sleep decreases by 25%, and so their growth hormone decreases by 25%. Men’s decreases by 75%.

Series of eight sessions to stimulate the senses and improve the brain

• Each session is built on the next. Each session lasts an hour and a half involving the patient and the caretaker.

• Stimulate olfactory nerves by offering three things to smell. Smell is part of the limbic system.

• Attach the smell to vivid memories: for instance, coffee can call up memories of a parent.

• Offer objects to smell, perfume for instance, like the perfume a wife used. Link that to memories. And then a third smell after that to stimulate emotions.

• Emotions that were hurtful are more powerful than good emotions. They strongly stimulate the limbic system.

• Taste is stimulated using a taste that is important to the patient.

• Music is used – a favorite song. The patient is urged to sing. The patient is asked about the first time they remember a song to evoke the emotional memory.

• Photographs are also used to stimulate memory. (Long term memory is usually fairly well preserved in early Alzheimer’s.)

• Build up a rapport between patient and caretaker. Involve the entire family and emphasize family socialization: this emotional input boosts the neurotransmitters associated with emotional input, including serotonin. This improves sleep.

• Touch is used to stimulate serotonin.

~ 31 ~

• The neurotransmitter dopamine increases and can help with executive functioning. Attention span improves. This can increase the size and the network of the hippocampus, rebuilding the home of short term memory and its eventual storage to long term memory, which stimulates all the rest of the brain.

• Stress decreases and the hormonal symphony improves: increasing youthful hormones and aging hormones.

As we age, our youthful hormones, like growth hormone, testosterone, estrogen, thyroid decrease by 90% by age 70. But aging hormones mainly the cortical steroids – increase by 60%. Severe stress for three months or more decreases the size of the hippocampus by 14 to 20%.

• People who are depressed have two to three times the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

• Exercise decreases cortisol – stress hormone.

• Sex can stimulate the positive neurotransmitters.

• Two major NIH studies did autopsies of brains that looked like they had Alzheimer’s. But only 50% of the people had Alzheimer’s disease, The other 50% did not have short term memory problems: Those individuals who did not have the symptoms of Alzheimer’s had eight or more social contacts. Social contacts protect brain function.

Helpful supplements include

• Fish oil.

• Turmeric

• Resveratrol (it can be in wine)

• Alpha lipoic acid.

• B12,

• Folate

~ 32 ~

Pamela Wartian Smith, MDAuthor, What You Must Know About Memory Loss

and Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine Grosse Pointe Farms, MI

Dr. Pamela Wartian Smith is a recognized authority on wellness and anti-aging, a diplomate of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Physicians, and the owner and director of the Center for Personalized Medicine.

Losing your memory and mental faculties is not a natural part of aging

• At 95 your brain should be just as sharp as it is at the age of 24.

• Memory loss usually starts with word retrieval issues, spelling issues

• Stress commonly causes problems with mental focus and memory

Three aspects of wellness to be a healthy 100 years old:

• Vision,

• Memory

• Mobility.

A healthy diet and lifestyle can help keep you healthy as you age.

• Even if you inherit a gene for Alzheimer’s disease, you don’t have to turn on the gene.

• If you inherit a gene for diabetes, you don’t have to become diabetic.

• Breast cancer is 10% inherited, 90% environmental.

Cognitive decline usually is multi-factorial so an analysis of someone with memory issues can include:

• Did you have a stroke? A a mini-stroke?

• Did you have a heart attack?

~ 33 ~

• A stool test to look at gut health and check for parasites that can cause memory difficulties

In a case of a man with early Parkinson’s disease and Lyme disease.his neurologist used mainstream medicine for his Parkinson’s.while Dr. Smith:

• Decreased his inflammation by starting him on curcumin, and krill oil (omega-3 fatty acid supplement)

• Gave him a medium chain triglyceride – coconut oil, which is good for memory (from Mary Newport’s work): 1200 to 1600 mg. (More commonly, people take 100.mg)

• Started him on 300 mg of phosphatidylserine (PS) which increases acetylcholine, the main neurotransmitter for electrical impulse of memory. It helps with names, faces, lost objects and phone numbers

• Low dose naltrexone, a medicine used for drug addiction; studies show that at very low doses it helps with autoimmune diseases like Parkinson’s

• Antibiotics for Lyme disease.

In general to prevent developing memory problems, Dr. Smith recommends:

• Phosphatidylserine: studies show if you have a closed-head injury, and even post-stroke up to five years later PS can help support brain health.

• Anti-inflammatories like curcumin, omega-3 fatty acids.

• Measure C-reactive protein, TNF alpha, interluken-6 to see if inflammation is high.

• Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10): It is one-third of the fueling source in the body, and starting at about the age of 50 your body makes less. Should take100mg at the age of 50. Athletes at any age may need 400 mg daily. The heart and the brain are the organs that use the most CoQ10 in the body

• Alpha-lipoic acid: Helps energize cells, body makes less with age. Take 100 mg a day at age 50 and above to help maintain memory; it also benefits the liver.

• For blood sugar issues, 3 to 400 mg a day of alpha-lipoic acid can help lower blood sugar and make insulin work better. It also helps with nerve pain – neuropathy.

Pharmaceuticals cause nutrient deficiencies

• Statin drugs increase the need for CoQ10; and if you’re on something called hydrochlorothiazide, which is a water pill, if you’re on a beta blocker that ends in “ol,” like atenolol, if you’re on metformin, glyburide, glipizide for blood sugar issues: these all deplete CoQ10. If you’re on five medicines, you may need 500 mg a day of coenzyme Q10 to replenish the body (100 mg per pharmaceutical).

~ 34 ~

• Statin drugs cause six different nutritional depletions: a daily multivitamin to cover all of these deficiencies is necessary.

If your hemoglobin A1C is going up slightly (sign of blood sugar issues); if your fasting insulin is rising: you should intervene to head off diabetes.

• Eliminate simple sugars from the diet.

• Exercise to lower blood sugar.

• Get at least six and a half to eight hours of sleep a night.

• Have thyroid function checked

• Take berberine, ananti-inflammatory that can lower cholesterol and lower blood sugar

• Take chromium which can help control sugar cravings; helps build muscle. If blood sugar’s gone awry 1200 to 1600 µg of chromium can help. (And exercise depletes chromium so exercisers need more.).

For treating brain problems, Dr. Smith recommends balancing one problem area at a time. In a 67 year old woman with memory problems:

• Stress and grief from her husband dying was impacting her health..

• Dr. Smith measured her hormones including pregnenolone (a memory hormone), and the stress hormone cortisol, because they’re all in the same metabolic pathway: worked on normalizing those for 90 days

• Pregnenolone is measured in a blood test; hers was so low it was not detectable, A 10 mg as a pill brought her reading up to 50 and was adequate.

• A saliva test measured her estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and the stress hormone cortisol: Dr. Smith optimized each one of them. (Estrogen which has 400 functions in the body has to balance with progesterone)

• Progesterone helps nerves in the brain and spinal cord function more effectively.

• Dr. Smith normalized her testosterone, which is important for a sense of well-being and memory.

• DHEA makes estrogen and testosterone; levels go down with stress and aging. DHEA is also tied to memory.

• Cortisol, the stress hormone: If it’s not balanced, cholesterol can go up, blood sugar, blood pressure go up, thyroid doesn’t function as well; it can lead to cognitive decline and lack of mental focus

~ 35 ~

• Fixing hormone levels needs to be done by a knowledgeable health practitioner: a specialist in metabolic, anti-aging, regenerative, and functional medicine: not a normal gynecologist, for instance: most are not trained in looking at hormones from a broader perspective of overall health.

• Along with your regular family doctor (your personal doctor) you need a specialist in anti-aging, metabolic medicine.

• In this case, the 67 year-old woman, was 70% better in 3 months.

Dealing with thyroid issues

• Stress hormone cortisol has to be optimized before considering the thyroid.

• Sometimes the thyroid problem is an iodine deficiency simply taking iodine will have the thyroid working better. (iodine is measured in a urine test.)

• When the body makes thyroid, it makes two kinds of thyroid hormone: it makes T4, and it makes T3. The T3 is the one that is important for heart health and for memory.

• Studies have shown that if people need thyroid medicine, 98% of them do better if we give them both the T4 and the T3 as medication.

For an older woman with memory problems, Dr. Smith analyzes the solution through through layers:

• First layer focuses generally on the balance of all the hormones,

• Second layer focuses specifically on the thyroid and examining the female hormones and cortisol,

• Third level is an analysis of insulin and insulin sensitivity. (low glycemic diet, alpha lipoic acid and exercise can help

• Fourth layer looks at toxic metals in the body: lead, mercury, etc

Gut health affects the entire body.

• 70% of the immune system is in the gut.

• Brain health depends on a healthy gut – the gut is like a second brain.

• Heart arrhythmias can result from gut problems.

• Probiotic supplements can help the gut and other organs stay healthier. They should be taken daily. Take a different one every six months for a wider variety of beneficial bacteria. Stool tests can analyze at your bacteria and check for parasites and yeast.

~ 36 ~

Fred Pescatore, MDEditor, Logical Health Alternatives

New York, NY

Dr. Fred Pescatore, MD, practices integrative medicine in New York and is President of the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists. His website is www.drpescatore.com,

Conventional medicine’s non-answers for Alzheimer’s:

• One or two different drugs that are relatively ineffective; that’s pretty much it: Aricept doesn’t work. Namenda doesn’t work.

Natural approach to Alzheimer’s:

• Look at the entire person.

• Fight inflammation: inflammation is the root cause of Alzheimer’s and other conditions like diabetes, obesity, heart disease

• Analyze nutritional status/diet

• Check thyroid status

• Chekci vitamin status.

• Adjust ifestyle, – interplays with the whole brain cognitive function

• Strengthen social Support: People in their lives; Support mechanism

• Eliminate toxins in the environment

Detailed concerns for brain health:

• Check for Lyme disease ,

• Vitamin D is adequate

• Vitamin B12/B6/folic acid is sufficient

• Exercise

• Overload of sugar in the diet

• Red blood cell mineral levels.

~ 37 ~

Mineral and metal status in the body:

• Boost absorption of calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and copper

• Avoid toxic metals that a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

• Eliminate aluminum, zinc, mercury, lead, bismuth…

Changing the diet:

• Cut back on simple carbohydrates/sugar in meals which lead to inflammation

• Cut back on sugar which is an anti-nutrient; depletes your body of B vitamins.

Development of Alzheimer’s

Analyze the body’s toxic load:

• The beta amyloid plaque that develops during Alzheimer’s disease is a marker for the root cause problems that are occurring in the brain.

• The blood-brain barrier can get leaky,

• Leaky gut can cause havoc.

• Toxins from air pollution water pollution, even the chemicals in sales receipts that are absorbed through the skin from thermal paper: phthalates,

• Phthalates can also be in plastic bottles,

• Bisphenol A (BPA) one of the main phthalates, (Bisphenol A-free products are not any better); the substitute, Bisphenol S, is just as toxic.

• Pthalates are in cleaning supplies:.dry-cleaning chemicals, household cleaners; toothpaste; aluminum is in deodorants

The body’s anitoxidant defenses decline as we age:

Body loses the ability to create glutathione, a key antioxidant which helps the liver detoxify pollutants; helps other antioxidants fight off oxidative damage.

Only way to increase glutathione:

• Intravenous injection

• Supplement ME3, unique probiotic that helps body make glutathione (brand name: Regactiv)

• Liposomal glutathiones are not effective

~ 38 ~

Other supplements for cognitive health:

• “Blueness,” made from a specific lemon balm tree, from Germany; works on this receptor called “M1 receptor”, helps neurotransmitters talk to each other.

• “Alpha GPC, nourishes the M1 receptor so that the neurotransmitters can communicate; it is an enhanced form of choline (neurotransmitter) ;the beta amyloid plaque in Alzheimer’s is most likely the marker indicating that the M1 receptor is not working correctly.

• Supplements for early Alzheimer’s:

• Blueness: no side effects; improves neuron communication.

• Alpha GPC: coats the entire neuron-axon transmitter; fills in neuronal gaps so neurons can communicate

• Pycnogenol: French maritime pine tree bark extract. Improves blood flow; as we age impaired blood flow leads to capillaries closing off leading to white matter changes in brain and cognitive decline; pycnogenol maintains blood vessel lining (collagen and elastin).

• Cocoa-bioflavonoids: have one of the largest amounts of antioxidants; caffeine in cocoa can actually open up blood vessels; contained in Pescatore’s whey protein drink.

• Vitamin E: Keep the platelets flowing up to the brain; keeps oxygen flowing to the brain.

• Gingko: enhances blood flow to the brain

• Resveratrol: enhances blood flow to the brain.

• Lion’s mane: medicinal mushroom used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years; can slow down cognitive decline; anti-inflammatory; improves protection at the blood/brain barrier.

• Green tea extract: contains EGCG and theanine (the calming agent in green tea); opens blood vessels;keeps blood and oxygen flowing to the brain.

Examples of patients Dr. Pescatore has treated:

New Yorker who couldn’t do the New York Times crossword any more:

Diet program

• Supplements: Blueness; Alpha GPC: lion’s mane; Pycnogenol plus other supplements; small amount of testosterone

• Exercise: recommendation from medical exercise specialist; at least 15 minutes of walking daily.

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Retired accountant in cognitive decline:

• Treated her for Lyme disease.

• Treated her for heavy metal toxicity – particularly lead (IV therapy for getting rid of the heavy metals)

• Revised her diet.

• Nutritional supplements: Blueness:,the Alpha GPC, ME3, Pycnogenol, vitamin D EGCG, cocoa-bioflavonoids; Gingko, high dose vitamin E, fish oils

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David L. Katz, MDFounding Director, Yale University Prevention

Research Center Yale University, CT

Dr. David Katz is President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and a Founder and the Director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center.

You can slash our risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 80%:

• Dementia is substantially preventable. Alzheimer’s and most forms of dementia all fall into a category of vascular dementias for the most part.

• The risk factors for coronary disease are the risk factors for dementia.: smoking, eating badly, not exercising, weight that’s out of control, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol. These gum up the coronary arteries and hinder blood supply to the brain.

• Changes in blood supply evolve into the morphological (structural) changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s: specific distortions in the architecture of the brain

• Fix coronary disease risk factors and you also lower risk for dementia.

• Insulin resistance in the brain is type III diabetes.

• Too many people suffer insulin resistance called pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Cells get less sugar, insulin levels rise and damage the body.

• High levels of insulin increases Alzheimer’s risk

• Pro-inflammatory factors can damage the brain

• Oxidative injury can harm the brain’s neurons.

• People vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease show the particular manifestations of insulin resistance

Areas of the world called the Blue Zones offer knowledge about anti-aging and dementia prevention.

Dan Buettner, the author of The Blue Zones chronicles the lifestyle practices of people who live the longest (high concentration of centenarians: 100 year-olds), suffer the least chronic disease.and rarely suffer dementia, heart disease, cancer, strokes or diabetes.

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Five documented Blue Zones

• Ikaria, Greece,

• Sardinia, Italy,

• Okinawa, Japan,

• Loma Linda, CA,

• Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.

People in the blue zones:

• Don’t smoke

• Eat whole foods

• Avoid toxins like tobacco

• Get routine phsical activity.

• Get plenty of sleep

• Avoid stress

• Have strong relationships with other members of the community

The blue zone in Loma Linda, California is not because of geography but due to culture.

• Consists of Seventh Day Adventist population.

• Mostly vegetarian.

• Religious practices essentially preclude tobacco and excess alcohol (most don’t drink at all)

• Go for walks routinely.

• Family and community bonds are strong.

Blue zone characteristics

• In Ikaria, Greece population lives a traditional Mediterranean lifestyle.

• Walking and taking time to be contemplative and meditate

• Not stressed out.

• Centering element to their spirituality

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• Don’t sweat the small stuff…

• Their health is supported by activities of the feet, forks, and fingers. Meaning physical activity, dietary pattern – not smoking. They get plenty of sleep, less stress, and more love (including friendship)

Diets are not all the same in blue zones:

• Ikaria, Greece and Sardinia, Italy: foods are very high fat,.

• Okinawa, Japan, and Loma Linda, CA: foods are extremely low fat

• Costa Rica: foods are moderately fatty

• All diets are made up of wholesome foods, mostly plants.

• Dietary fat derives from nuts, and seeds, and olive, and avocado and fish (in the Mediterranean countries)

• They rarely eat fish or seafood in Loma Linda, CA.

• In Okinawa, Japan, they have a traditional Asian diet which emphasizes grains and plant foods.

• Omnivorous diet in Costa Rica, but emphasizing a variety of plants, including some things that grow locally.

• We need to convert US culture so that it leads us toward health like the blue zones rather than interferes with our efforts to get there.

A decades-long intervention study in Finland called “The North Karelia Project:

Intervention in a culture of a population with high rate of cardiovascular disease and dementia:

• Took away tobacco

• Took away excess salt

• Took away excess saturated fat

• Shifted the diet to wholesome foods, mostly plants.

• After 40 years reduced rate of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and dementia iby about 80%

• Katz’s book Disease Proof, discusses these changes that can slash the risk of all chronic disease including dementia by up to 80%.

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A lot of US industries run on the confusion that prevents us from being a Blue Zone

• Food companies sell us junk food that makes us sick; their scientists work to make foods addictive.

• Drug companies slel drugs to treat the diseases caused by junk food.

• Publishing companies sell information that changes every day about how to avoid all the problems caused by junk food, no exercise and taking medications; promotes pseudo confusion.

• Consequently, our culture dishes out bad lifestyle choices all the time,

• We need to take personal responsibility to make healthy lifestyle choices and work to make the general culture more supportive of preventive health.

In his personal life David Katz incorporates exercise.

• Fitting in daily exercise is a priority

• Day begins with exercise in the morning: on an elliptical machine or a rowing machine frequently. “I don’t have time not to exercise.”

• Exercise maintains energy, enthusiasm, better cognitive function, less stress, better mental focus, improves sleep. Increases productivity.

• Exercise is about priorities, time management, and the whole concept of return on investment.

Dietary improvements:

• You need food label literacy. If you’re shopping, you need to know how to identify in any given category of food what’s the more nutritious choice. You need to know how to find healthy food you can afford.

• You need to know something about home food preparation

• Need some recipes to cook at home

David Katz’s diet:

• Eats a mix of berries and whole grain cereal, and nonfat, plain Greek yogurt for my breakfast, routinely.

• Snacks on fresh fruit, nuts in their native state, sometimes vegetables, sometimes whole grain cereals throughout the day.

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He and his wife post recipes on www.cuisinicity.com

Snacks on plant foods, either whole grains, vegetables or mostly fruit, fresh fruit and dried fruit, during the day.

Dinner is vegetarian, more often than not, but he eatst fish and seafood, and, very occasionally, locally sourced free range poultry, but tries to avoid that more and more, again, mostly for environmental reasons.

Diet includes lots of beans, lots of lentils, lots of whole grains, lots of vegetables, lots of fruit, nuts, seeds, water when thirsty, good glass of wine, some dark chocolate…

Healthy habits:

• Control stress:

• Exercise is not just exercise. It’s also Katz’s “mental health program.”

• Maintaining relationships

• Recreation reduces stress..Katz uses horseback riding and romping with his dogs.

• Yoga, Tai Chi, or i meditation,

Skills for a healthier life:

• Don’t smoke.

• Develop your willpower is to motivate you to say, “Yes, I want this skill set, and I’m willing to invest and take the time I need to learn.”

• Dean Ornish program shows you can shrink away coronary atherosclerosis with a combination of a wholesome, plant-based diet, avoiding toxins, physical activity, getting enough sleep, dissipating stress, and cultivating strong social interactions.

Intervening with dementia including Alzheimer’s disease:

• The earlier we intervene, the better.

• Deal with nsulin resistance, or diabetes, or coronary disease, to reduce risk for dementia

• Lifestyle program that reverses the vascular disease, and reverses insulin resistance, and maybe reverses the diabetes is in effect reversing the risk for the dementia.

• Involve entire family in healthier lifestyle practices. Change culture at the level of a household.

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Programs for healthier lifestyles:

• Free program called “Nutrition Detectives.” distributed 50,000 DVDs in English and Spanish, and the program is active all around the world, reaching millions of kids.

• Nutrient profiling system that Katz developed called “NuVal.” In 1700 supermarkets in the United States. Uses a scale from one to 100 – the higher the number, the more nutritious the food, and that goes on the shelf tag in the supermarket right next to the price. (The shorter the ingredient list on a packaged food, the better)

• Consumer demand can convince supermarkets to sell healthier foods.

• Need to eliminate inappropriate ingredients like partially hydrogenated oll, added sugar: some pasta sauces have more added sugar, when you match them for calories, than you find in ice cream topping.

• Breakfast cereals often have a higher concentration of sodium than virtually anything in the salty snack aisle; saltier than any potato chip.

The True Health Initiative

• Principles are based on the consensus among the world’s experts in lifestyle medicine about the fundamentals of healthy living, including healthy eating.

• Has a council of directors who have banded together to help get that message out – 300 strong from 30 countries, very prominent people, three former Surgeons General of the United States, and chairs of departments, and deans of schools, and presidents of universities,

• Basic lifestyle changes can eliminate fully 80% of all chronic disease, including most dementia.

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Dale Bredesen, MDFounding President & CEO,

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging Novato, CA

Bredsen’s work on Alzheimer’s:

• He has researched Alzheimer’s for 27 years

• Studying subjective cognitive impairment and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

100 people coming through Bredsen’s program, many with dramatic and unprecedented improvements –

• Enlargement of hippocampal volume (brain’s memory center)

• Improvements in quantitative neurocyte testing,

• The idea that amyloid in the brain is the problem in the disease is backwards; amyloid is a protectant. The brain makes amyloid as a defense to kill microbes (research by Dr. Rudy Tansi)

During Alzheimer’s, the brain is responding to:

• Inflammation or infections – things like oral bacteria, or spirochetes, or fungi, molds, things like that. Other inflammatory factors such as high sugar usage,

• Withdrawal of trophic support. If you drop trophic molecules like estradiol, testosterone, Vitamin D, nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, etc, you lose support for your brain structure, and support for neuronal interaction, the synapses in the brain. The brain’s response is to elaborate amyloid as part of a downsizing program.

• Exposure to certain toxins, things like divalent metals, mercury, copper, iron, . The amyloid binds these very tightly, so it’s a very good protectant against these toxins. There are all sorts of biotoxins you can be exposed to: mycotoxins, for example; Lyme-related toxins. This type of cognitive problem is the toughest to deal with.

~ 47 ~

Two sides to the amyloid build-up:

• Protective – defending against microorganisms and binding toxins,

• Downsizing of brain tissue: If you have a genetic mutation that makes you elaborate much more amyloid, you experience accelerated neurodegeneration.

Analysis of Alzheimer’s patients:

Extensive metabolic profiling reveals

• Inflammatory type of Alzheimer’s;

• Atrophic Alzheimer’s

• Toxic-related Alzheimer’s

• Combinations of these three types.

Glyco-toxic” Alzheimer’s

• Results from chronic increase in sugar exposure,

• Characterized by insulin resistance,

• Leads to an inflammatory response from AGE’s (advanced glycation end products).

• Also present is a Type II Alzheimer’s,

• People have an atrophic response – they’ve lost the support of insulin. Leads to insulin insensitivity.

• Bredsen has identified 36 molecular driveways of Alzheimer’s pathway

Failure of Alzheimer’s trials

• Between 2002-2012, one decade: 244 clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease at a cost of billions of dollars.

• 243 failed outright, and the one that succeeded had a very minimal impact.:A single drug cannot do all the dozens and dozens of things needed to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

• Findings show that as the metabolism goes, so goes the cognition. Have to fix the metabolic input to the amyloid – fix the infections, the inflammatory processes to see improvement.

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Alzheimer’s algorithm; need to measure:

• Copper to zinc ratio,

• Estradiol to progesterone ratio,

• Vitamin D status,

• Stress stress level

• Level of inflammation

• hs-CRP, your IL-6, TNF alpha

• 100 parameters are assessed both historically, imaging-wise, and biochemically and genetically to identify the specific determinants, specific drivers of the underlying Alzheimer’s process.

Alzheimer’s is a mismatch between the synaptoblastic activity and the synaptoclastic activity.: higher synaptoclastic (synapse elimination) than synaptoblastic (synapse creating) activity. Need to reduce the synaptoclastic activity, increase the synaptoblastic activity, for better balance and to form and maintain synapses

• Do this with a personalized program

• Health coaches are going to be very important factor in this therapy; help each person to do the optimal activities.

• Eating fish that are species with high mercury contents absolutely can be damaging to the brain, – amyloid binds the divalent metal mercury, shields the brain.

Bredesen deals with doctors to help them work with patients.

Treatment of Alzheimer’s is not static, it is evolving.

Diet and nutrition for Alzheimer’s disease

• Diet should be a fat-related diet with good fats. Coconut oil, and MCT oil, avocados, nuts are beneficial

• Staying in very mild ketosis can be helpful

• Stay away from simple carbohydrates.

• Stay away from the Berfooda Triangle: simple carbohydrates, saturated fats, and low fiber.

• Eat lots of fiber.

• Eat mostly vegetables.

• Meat should be pastured, it should be grass-fed beef. Eggs should be pastured eggs.

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• Fish should be wild-caught fish not farmed (farmed contain more toxins).

• Do not eat fish high in mercury like swordfish, shark, tuna. Instead eat the “smash fish,” like salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring (lower in mercury)

• Keep a high omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in your diet, that is anti-inflammatory. With your omega-3 fats include the supports like the secoiridoids and [florotannins

• Stay away from the white stuff avoid white potatoes, white rice, and white bread

• Check to see if you are gluten-sensitive. But it’s always a good idea to avoid gluten.

• Stick with low-glycemic foods, don’t spike your insulin with simple carbs. .

• Have a fast at night for a minimum of 12 hours from your last food in the day to first food the next day: helps clean out the brain

• Have three hours between last meal of the day and bedtime.

• Restrict your food consumption to an 8 to 12 hour stretch during each day.

• Take things like coconut oil or your MCT oil during the day.

• Investigate your own biochemistry and genetics. Know your Vitamin D level, your estradiol to progesterone ratio, your APOE4 status.

• Have a cognitive assessment to show your risk for cognitive problems.. unquestionably helps to optimize your cognition.

• Take a personalized regime of supplements. Certain people should take ashwagandha, or bacopa, or gotu kola, or vitamin D, or methyl B-12, or methyl folate.

• Find out if you have to deal with excess homocysteine: methyl B-12, methyl folate, P5P, (an active form of B6) or trimethyl glycine can help with that.

• Exercise and control your stress levels.

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David Perlmutter, MDNeurologist & New York Times Bestselling Author,

Grain Brain and Brainmaker Naples FL

Dr. David Perlmutter is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He’s the recipient of the Linus Pauling Award for neurological innovations,

The diet’s influence on the brain:

• Brain is exquisitely sensitive to the food that we choose to eat.

• Dietary choices have a profound role to play in charting the brain’s destiny; pharmaceuticals are worth very little.

• Inflammation is the root of brain difficulties. inflammation can manifest itself in the brain as cognitive decline.

• Mainstream medicine, in the Western world, is focused on treating the smoke of brain problems, but ignoring the fire – inflammation,

• The smoke is behavioral issues, and even the brain changes that we observe.

• Inflammation is also at the root of heart disease , diabetes, cancer

• Inflammation doesn’t begin in the brain but begins in the gut

Gut mediates inflammation in the body

• Lining of the gut becomes more permeable, or leaky.

• The hundred trillion microbes that live within each and every one of us maintains the integrity of the gut lining.

• Damage to the gut occurs because of ”

• Poor diet

• Usage of medications

• Resulting inflammation affects the entire body: brain, heart, immunity, the joints, the skin.

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Leaky Gut affects the Brain

• The gram negative bacteria in the intestines have lipopolysaccharides, or LPS, on their surfaces, a chemical that should stay in the gut.

• LPS in the blood shows: the gut is too permeable; The LPS is powerfully inflammatory.

• Dramatic increases of LPS correlates with Alzheimer’s, autism, and Lou Gehrig’s disease

Food choices are fundamental to brain health

• Chronic neurodegenerative conditions are likely gut-related.

• Elevated blood sugar dramatically increases risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

• A 2014 The New England Journal of Medicine study followed several thousand individuals for seven years: people with even slight elevations of their blood sugar went on to have dramatic increased risk for having Alzheimer’s

• Diabetes markers are linked to Alzheimer’s risk.

• Controlling blood sugar could prevent 50% of Alzheimer’s

The truth about fat and carbohydrates

• Fat is your friend.

• Fat paves the way for health.

• Fat has been the main source of calories in the human diet for well over two million years.

• Higher carb diet, has paved the way for increased numbers of people suffering from chronic degenerative conditions.

• We need to cut the carbs, get rid of the sugar, and eat more healthful fat.

• But beware of unhealthy, modified fats used almost as preservatives.

• Healthy fats include extra virgin olive oil, the coconut oil, grass-fed beef, wild fish, nuts and seeds, eggs that contain healthful fats.

• Your brain is 70% fat, that comes from the food that you eat.

• 50% of the fat in human breast milk is fully saturated fat.

• Fat will help you lose weight, and reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s.

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For a brain-healthy diet:

• Eat a diet exquisitely low in carbohydrates and sugars,

• Consume healthful fat

• Eat fibrous foods that nurture gut bacteria.

• Low carb, low sugar, higher fat and get rid of the artificial sweeteners.

• Eat more fermented foods, things like kimchee, and kombucha and kefir that have good levels of probiotic bacteria within them.

• Eat more fiber. Consume prebiotic fiber found in items like jicama, dandelion greens, onions, garlic, leek. This type of fiber feeds probiotic bacteria.

• Eat prebiotic foods like artichoke, Jerusalem artichoke, dandelion greens, apples to some degree, and even apple cider vinegar

• You can take prebiotic supplements derived from things like baobab fruit, or even acacia gum from Africa

• By nurturing your gut bacteria, you heal the gut lining. These bacteria manufacture B vitamins that are vitally important for your brain.

• Probiotic bacteria create chemicals like butyrate that nurture the brain to actually heal the blood-brain barrier

• The gut bacteria play a role in the manufacturing of our neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. 90% of them are made in the gut, not in the brain. (Gut is like a second brain.) They can improve your mood.

• Your diet has to also feed your 100 trillion gut bacteria: Every important metabolic process in your body is to some degree mediated and managed by microbes

Food is information.

• Food changes, directly, our gene expression: epigenetic influence. We call this an epigenetic issue. Some genes turn on, others flip off.

• 99% of the DNA in the body is bacterial DNA

• 70% of our DNA, that code for health and longevity, is directly affected by our lifestyle choices, predominantly the food choices that we make.

• Food choices influence our worldview.

• Food choices directly affect the health and the diversity of the gut bacteria.

• Health, and our longevity, and our ability to resist diseases, including Alzheimer’s, is absolutely dependent upon the health of our gut bacteria

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Ketosis

• When animals hibernate in winter, their fasting state puts them into ketosis. Fat provides food to their cells

• Different bacteria in their gut during summer: summer microbiome.

• Bacteria in their winter microbiome are different from the summer.

• Bacteria in the gut affects the weight of people too.

Use meals to protect your brain

• Extend the time from dinner the night before until breakfast for as long as is reasonable. 12-16 hours is best. This fasting state helps the brain be more in ketosis and turn onbrain-preserving, life-preserving genes.

• Eat more protein and fat for breakfast. Skip the carbs like oatmeal. Vegetable omelettes are good.

• Better, more static personal energy all day by burning fat as a fuel source instead of carbs.

Perlmutter’s daily routine

• Typically doesn’t eat until well after noon.

• In the morning he has coffee. With a tablespoon of coconut oil.

• Exercises every single morning.; he runs and bikes.

• Plays music to ease stress.

• Around 1:00 or 2:00 PM cooks some kale, spinach, chard, something leafy. Has a can of salmon with that, or a can of anchovies or sardines, and water.

• Even if he misses dinner, he’s not hungry. He can go 24 hours, not eat, and not be hungry.

• Travels with avocados and little packets of nut butters for snacks.

• Dinner is mostly colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and some probiotic-enriched food, fermented food, like the traditional Korean food kimchee.

• He gets get eight hours of sleep every night but thinks seven to eight hours is ideal for most people.

Aerobic exercise

• Research by Dr. Kirk Erickson at the University of Pittsburg demonstrates neurogenesis, occurs in adults. We can amplify that growth of neurons by restricting our calories.

~ 54 ~

• Aerobic exercise is a powerful epigenetic modulator. It turns on the genes to grow new brain cells and make the brain’s memory center bigger year after year,

• Alzheimer’s is a preventable disease for which there is no pharmaceutical treatment, but aerobic exercise can help create new neuron growth..

• Have to get the heart rate up for about a 20-minute stretch, six to seven days a week. That can be walking briskly, jogging, riding a bike, swimming, jazzercising

• Exercise has to be more than stretching, and more than weight training. Need an accelerated heart rate.

Risk for Alzheimer’s disease

• 5.4 million Alzheimer’s patients in America,

• Type II diabetes doubles your risk.

• Lack of exercise increases your risk.

• Other risk factors include: high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, having a genetic risk: APOE-4 allele.,

• Risk of Alzheimer’s is not related to a single gene – multiple gene pathways are at work

Stress increases Alzheimer’s risk

• Research by Dr. Robert Sepolsky shows that harmful effects of stress on the brain.

• Higher levels of stress create the stress hormone cortisol which is very toxic to the brain’s memory center, the hippocampus. (also plays a role in mood)

• Stress-creating cortisol leads to increased gut permeability, and changes the complexion of the organisms living within the gut.

• Simply smiling lowers your cortisol level.

• Looking upon the face of the stranger as a friend first, and make judgments later, can lower stress..

Supplements for brain health

• Probiotics can improve the expression of the gut organisms that live within us, modify the metabolism of our gut bacteria, help to reduce the permeability of the gut lining, and help to reduce inflammation.

• Prebiotic fiber from food or supplements help feed the bacteria of the gut., these days, when

~ 55 ~

people are really not getting enough prebiotic fiber in their food, supplementing with prebiotics is very important.

• Vitamin D may lower the risk of Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, autism, and Alzheimer’s

• Alpha lipoic acid and coenzyme Q10 With vitamin E protect the brain.

• Omega 3 DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid – fish oil, algae-derived oil, krill oil – activates the gene pathway to turn on the growth of new brain cells, and reduces inflammation.

Dr. Dale Bredesen’s work with Alzheimer’s patients

• Bredesen reports reversing Alzheimer’s in nine of ten patients. While pharmaceuticals have reversed none.

• Bredsen leveraged 36 different inputs, including exercise, vitamin D, lower carb diet, gluten free, higher fat, stress reduction, changing or reducing homocysteine level, other various interventions, sex hormone modification, to help Alzheimer’s patients.

Keep homocysteine level down, keep blood sugar down (keep hemoglobin A1C level, down), keep fasting insulin level down, and keep vitamin D adequate

We need more vitamin D

• Mainstream doctors believe a normal vitamin D level is between 30 and 80, or 30 and 100, depending on the lab

• A level in the 30s is too low.

• The optimal range, mandates a lot more vitamin D supplementation.

• Vitamin D deficiency across America is staggering in terms of how widespread it is.

Modern food problems

• Federal agencies involved in disseminating the dietary recommendations for the American population have been the agencies involved in helping the farmers grow and sell their products, predominantly wheat.

• The government has recommended high carb diet, but this is not healthy.

• Agriculture was only developed 10,000 years ago, and humans have been on the earth for 2.4 million years – 99% of our time on this planet, we didn’t eat grains

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Elderly women most at risk for neurodegenerative disease.

• Multiple sclerosis mostly affects women,

• Alzheimer’s, it’s far more common in women; more women die of Alzheimer’s than die of breast cancer.

• The 85-years-and-above segment of our population is the most rapidly growing segment of our population, a

• The diet that is good for the brain is good for the heart.

• Prevention of Alzheimer’s with healthy lifestyle is the best solution, there is no pharmaceutical treatment for Alzheimer’s.